Description

Though a directive principle of the constitution, a uniform civil code of law has never been written or instituted in India. As a result, in matters of personal law—the segment of law concerning marriage, dowry, divorce, parentage, legitimacy, wills, and inheritance—individuals of different backgrounds must appeal to their respective religious laws for guidance or rulings. But balancing the claims of religious communities with those of a modern secular state has caused some intractable problems for India as a nation. Religion and Personal Law in Secular India provides a comprehensive look into the issues and challenges that India faces as it tries to put a uniform civil code into practice.

Author Bio

Gerald James Larson is Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilization and Director of the India Studies Program at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is author of India's Agony over Religion and Classical Samkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning and co-editor of Interpreting across Boundaries: New Essays in Comparative Philosophy and The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 4, Samkhya: A Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy.

Reviews

“With no written uniform civil code of law, in matters of personal law concerning such matters as marriage, parentage, and inheritance—individuals of different religious backgrounds must appeal to their respective religious laws for guidance or rulings. These essays provide a comprehensive look into the issues and challenges that India faces as it tries to put a uniform civil code into practice. Readers seeking deeper understandings of Indian history and culture will find a sensitive handling of the tensions between religious law and the claims of a modern, secular state in this timely volume.”

Customer Reviews

Table of Contents

Preliminary Table of Contents: PrefaceIntroduction: The Secular State in a Religious Society Gerald James Larson

Part 1. The Secular State and Legal Pluralism: The Current Debate and Its Historical Antecedents1. Religion, Personal Law and Identity Granville Austin2. Religious Minorities and the Law Ruma Pal3. Living with Difference in India: Legal Pluralism and Legal Universalism in Historical Context Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph

Part 3. Personal Law and Issues of Gender7. Gender Implications for a Uniform Civil Code Robert D. Baird8. The Personal and the Political: Indian Women and Inheritance Law Srimati Basu9. Colonialism, Nationalism, and Gendered Legal Subjectivities: Observations on the Historical Destruction of Separate Legal Regimes Kunal M. Parker10. Who Was Roop Kanwar? Sati, Law, Religion, and Post-Colonial Feminism in Contemporary India Paul Courtright and Namita Goswami11. "Where Will She Go? What Will She Do?" Paternalism towards Women in the Administration of Muslim Family Law in Contemporary India Sylvia Vatuk

Part 4. Cross-Cultural Perspectives12. Affirmative Action in the United States and the Reservation System in India: Some Comparative Perspectives Kevin Brown13. Personal Law Systems and Religious Conflict: A Comparison of India and Israel Marc Galanter and Jayanth Krishnan14. The Road to Xanadu: India's Quest for Secularism Rajeev Dhavan

Some Continuing Issues William D. PopkinBibliographical Note Gerald James LarsonContributorsIndex